10 Things Parents Need to Know About The College Application Process

The high school guidance office is often the calm in the eye of the storm that involves the college application process each year for Huntington seniors.

Here are some interesting facts and helpful tips on the college application process provided by Bernadette Walsh, the college adviser at Huntington High School.

1. There are approximately 280 seniors this year. The number of applications sent out so far total more than 1,220.
2. Students have until May 1st to make final decisions regarding their college choice, unless they have appplied to a college through a binding early decision program. At Huntington, students have been accepted to  Cornell University, Wesleyan University, Ithaca College, Sacred Heart University, University at Buffalo, SUNY Geneseo, High Point University, Drexel University, Lehigh University, and Syracuse University.   
3. About 30 percent of student applications this year were submitted through an early decision or early action program..
4. Approximately 90 percent of applications processed were received before before Christmas.
5. The colleges that have received the most applications this year are Binghamton University, closely followed by the University of Delaware and Stony Brook University.
6. Once you’re done with the college application process, it’s time to get serious about financial aid. One of your first stops should be the Free Application For Student Aid website. It may be free, but you’re going to have to spend a lot of time on the site and collecting documents to get everything in order.
7. In January, Huntington hosted a financial aid night.  Phyllis Greco, assistant director of student financial services, provided a comprehensive overview of the financial aid process and a line by line review of the FAFSA .
8. Find out what other resources are available through the high school. The Huntington High School College Center has computers equipped with high-speed internet access to allow students to complete interest surveys, communicate with college admission offices, search databases for colleges and even file on-line applications. Quarterly scholarship bulletins are mailed by the guidance office and scholarship announcements are made daily.
9. Individualized college search guidance is provided by Walsh  beginning in the students’ junior year continuing throughout the senior year. Walsh meets with each student and their families providing specific information for students who plan to attend four year colleges, community colleges, or enter the world of work after high school.
10. Ninety percent of students from the Huntington High School class of 2010 were accepted to two and four year colleges, 8% entered the world of work, and 1% entered a branch of the armed forces. 

"Huntington High School’s College Center is a bustling office that is one of the most active areas in the building," says Walsh. The center boasts a library that is filled with college course catalogs, DVDs, view books, SAT and ACT preparation and registration materials, scholarship and financial aid information, NCAA requirements, and college and career journals providing students with detailed descriptions of colleges, universities, academic programs, majors, and courses of study. 

Additional information about scholarships and financial aid can be obtained at the sources listed below.

• FastWeb:fastweb.com
• College Planning:collegeplan.org
• College Scholarships: www.college-scholarships.com
• New York Student Loan Programs www.collegescholarships.org/loans/state/new-york.htm
• Department of Education Home Page:www.easi.ed.gov/index.html
• Electronic FAFSA:www.ed.gov/prog_info/SFA/StudentGuide/
• FAFSA on the Web: www.fafsa.ed.gov/
• Fastaid:www.fastaid.com/
• FinAid!: Financial Aid Information Page, www.finaid.org
• Mini lesson in College Financial Aid:www.emich.edu/public/coe/nice/cfaid.html
• Student Loan Funding:www.studentloanfunding.com
• The Scholarship Page www.scholarship-page.com
• Wired Scholar: Paying for College:www.wiredscholar.com